Table Tennis World Championships: Manika Batra stars again as Indian women reach semi-finals

Fresh from her South Asian Games triumph, India's No. 1 paddler Manika Batra was the saviour of the day as she put up a spirited performance to inflict a 3-1 defeat over Puerto Rica in the quarter-finals of the Table Tennis World Championships.

The experienced Mouma Das did not give India an ideal start as she lost to Adriana Diaz 5-11, 14-12, 11-6, 6-11, 5-11 in a well-contested opening rubber.

Manika Batra then delighted with her defensive skills combined with sporadic attacks to beat Melaine Daize 12-14, 11-8, 11-5, 11-7 and then Adriana 11-2, 12-10, 12-14, 11-5.

The one further success for India was recorded in the third singles match of the fixture when K.Shamini accounted for Carelyn Cordero 12-10, 11-4, 7-11, 10-12, 11-7.

In the semi-finals, they will be taking on Serbia, who beat Vietnam 3-1.

The day belongs to Achanta Sharath Kamal

Following the footsteps of their women, the Indian men's team beat Nigeria to enter the semi-finals of the second division in the Table Tennis World Championships.

Beaten at the group stage two days back against Nigeria, Achanta Sharath Kamal, leading from the front, helped India overcome their opponents by three matches to two in a dramatic five-match encounter here on Friday.

Sharath was the star performer for India as he had to bring in all his experience to the table when India was down 1-2 with both Soumyajit Ghosh and Harmeet Desai having lost their singles.

India's No. 1 paddler despite losing the first game, played his best in recent times to win 8-11, 11-8, 11-3, 11-9 against Quadri Aruna, Nigeria's top player, in the fourth singles.

Earlier, in the second rubber, Sharath avenged his group match loss when he downed Segun Toriola 11-3, 13-11, 9-11, 11-5.

The most experienced member of the team, Soumyajit Ghosh, did not disappoint as he accounted for Segun Toriola in straight games of 1-9, 11-4, 11-9 and made amends for his opening singles loss of 9-11, 8-11, 11-9, 11-3, 11-9 to Quadri, after leading 2-0.

India are slated to take on Egypt in the semi-finals.